The Best Sustainable Jewellery Brands

If you’re interested in becoming a more sustainable, conscious consumer, an important place to look at and make changes to is your jewellery box. Do you know where all the jewels came from? The environment in which they were made? What are the materials made from? Who made them? Are the diamonds lab-grown? A sustainable jewellery brand is one that takes careful measures to make sure their actions are sustainable, linking very closely to being ethical. They often work with artisans and can trace their supply chain every step of the way to make sure every employee involved is taken care of and treated and paid fairly, and the materials may be reused and made of reycled materials. The factor of innovation within the following brands doesn’t make their jewels any less beautiful or special – in fact, we think that the ethical and sustainable element to these brands makes their products even more exceptional and worth investing in.

Here’s an easy guide to help you infuse your box with some unique peices of sustainable jewellery; this is our selection of the absolute crème de la crème of jewellery brands that will allow you to proudly wear your gorgeous adornments and be able to say that the purchase was a sustainable one, an ethical one, with purely positive and pretty repercussions.

The Best Sustainable Jewellery Brands

Pippa Small

Pippa Small was the recipient of an MBE back in 2013 for her contribution to ethical jewellery. The craftspeople who create her jewellery are discovered and trained by Pippa during her travels to Kabul, Burma and Bolivia, and by training them in this sector, provides them with lifelong skills that will in turn, help them take care of themselves and their respective families. She also works with the charity Turquoise Mountain, which works to revive arts and crafts in war-torn countries. Her jewellery is sold on Matches and Net-A-Porter amongst independant retailers, as well as her stand-alone store in Notting Hill. Pippasmall.com

Emma Aitchison Jewellery

The gold and silver Emma uses for her collections are 100% recyclable (where possible) and are also all Fairtrade. She works on a ‘made to order’ basis to combat overproduction, and her studio practices sustainability by making sure reyclable materials are always recycled, the lamps are energy efficient, and print paper is recycled. This is exactly the kind of brand to support – one that practices sustainability not only in their collections, but in their personal lives, too. Emmaaitchison.com

Arabel Lebrusan

After completing a masters at Central St Martins in Ethical Jewellery, Arabel created her eponymous brand selling jewellery that adheres to her commitment to using sustainable practices by finding and using only the most environmentally and culturally responsible sources. From fair mining to ethical sourcing, the brand helps to sustain individuals, communities, animal and marine life. Arabellebrusan.com

Article 22

Photographer: Michael Dumler

Handcrafted by artisan makers in Laos, Article 22 is all about celebrating ‘positive transformations’. Their first collection called Peacebomb features beautiful peices made from Vietnam War shrapnel and other debris. Talk about recycling something and turning it into something positive! Article22.com

Winden

New York based jewellery brand Winden use recycled materials to create their collections. This means that as well as creating sleek, minimal peices of jewellery (and hair accessories), the company is minimising its negative environmental impact. Windenjewelry.com

Pascale James

A beautiful jewellery brand that has nothing to hide, Pascale James is wholeheartedly dedicated to following through on their ethical message. As opposed to mining silver – a process which includes mass energy usage, arsenic emissions, and often human rights abuses – Pascale James source all of their silver from scrap jewellery, medical equipment and electronics. Where gold is involved, as in their latest collection Komorebi, the luxury brand uses 18ct Fair-trade gold to ensure the highest standards of sustainability are met. If you’re looking for something extra special, the Pascale James bespoke service will bring your wildest jewellery dreams to life, again using either recycled or fair-trade gold with ethically sourced diamonds that go beyond the typical ’conflict free’ – or even cultivated diamonds; made above grounds, these are wholly sustainable and ethical. Every single piece has been carefully designed and lovingly made in their Battersea studio. Needless to say, all their boxes, businesses cards and postcards are produced using recycled and FSC certified materials. pascalejames.com

Bario Neal

Boasting a wide selection of rings, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, bands and custom-made designs, Bario Neal is a brand proud of its eco-friendly label. Their commitment to being ethically sourced is broken down into four categories – Fairmined Gold; which means that any materials they use that aren’t recyled, are certified Fairmined materials, extracted by small-scale miners, Reclaimed Metal; they primarily only use recyled materials helping to 134,000 tonnes of metal earth from being extracted, Traceable Gemstones; which means their gemstones can be traced from mine to market, and Responsible Labour; each part of Bario Neal’s supply chain benefits from the company’s oath to support ‘happy and healthy working conditions’. Bario-neal.com

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